`Home Prison` Has Good Potential

February 7, 1986

WHEN A FEDERAL judge sentenced two counterfeiters recently to wear electronic monitoring devices on their legs during a term of ``house arrest,`` it made headlines.

Such a sentence is still controversial, but it may soon become business as usual, made necessary by a shortage of prison cells and the need for -- and potential value of -- innovative punishments as an alternative to incarceration.

The sentence for counterfeiting was imposed at the U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach. It was the first time such a sentence had ever been used by a federal court. For the last year, however, various state courts in South Florida and elsewhere have been experimenting with the use of electronic monitors and house arrest or at-home probation.

Last year, several convicts who at first voluntarily accepted the sentence quickly found, for one reason or another, that they couldn`t handle the idea of being at home with their freedom limited. So, they changed their minds and opted for going to jail.

House arrest is used only in cases of non-violent crimes where the offender does not pose a threat to himself or to the community. In some cases, the convict must stay at home 24 hours a day. In others, he can leave home only to go to and from work, and must stay inside at night or on weekends.

The court requires convicts to wear a special battery-powered electronic monitoring device strapped to one leg. It sends out signals picked up by a receiver in the home, hooked up by phone lines to a central computer. If anyone removes the monitoring device or tampers with the receiver, an alarm is sent out. Violators can be jailed for failing to abide by the terms of their sentence.

The federal court case involved two West Palm Beach men convicted of printing $1.2 million in counterfeit bills. U.S. District Court Judge James C. Paine sentenced them to stay in their homes around the clock for the next 90 days, then leave only to go to work for the next 90 days.

The judge justified this more lenient punishment by saying that none of the $20 bills were distributed and that he believes the men succumbed to severe financial problems and did not pose a threat to the community if allowed to stay out of jail.

In federal court, the short-term advantage for taxpayers is that the cost of such electronic monitoring is only $8 to $10 a day, vs. $35 a day for incarceration. House arrest can also let prisoners work and pay restitution to victims and repay taxpayers for court costs and even the cost of electronic monitoring.

The program`s long-term advantage is even better: For some prisoners, it can be a more effective form of rehabilitation and crime deterrent than jail. It also holds out the hope that fewer prisons, which can cost from $20,000 to $50,000 per cell, will have to be built.